Electrically conductive textile

ABSTRACT

An electrically conductive textile includes an electrically conductive textile member and at least one electrically conductive element. The electrically conductive textile member includes a textile body and a plurality of electrically conductive wires that are woven into the textile body in a first direction and that are spaced apart from each other. The at least one electrically conductive element is attached onto the textile body in a second direction transverse to the first direction, and is electrically connected to the electrically conductive wires for adjusting a resistance value of the electrically conductive textile member.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priorities of Taiwanese Patent Application No. 104128260, filed on Aug. 28, 2015, and Taiwanese Utility Model Application No. 104213968, filed on Aug. 28, 2015.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a textile, more particularly to an electrically conductive textile.

BACKGROUND

Electrically conductive textiles that can transmit signals into or out of smart clothes are seen in fields such as medicine, entertainment, etc.

Conventional electrically conductive textiles typically have high and non-uniform resistance, resulting in decreased signal sensitivity or increased noise. In addition, conventional electrically conductive textiles with high resistance are generally associated with static charge build-up, causing inconvenience to a user.

Moreover, patients undergoing electrotherapy with conventional electrically conductive textiles tend to feel a stinging sensation due to dryness of the textiles after long-term use.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example of the conventional electrically conductive textiles includes a textile body 9 and a plurality of electrically conductive wires 91 woven into the textile body 9. In the example, the electrically conductive wires 91 are used for lowering the overall resistance and increasing the resistance uniformity of the conventional electrically conductive textiles. Specifically, the electrically conductive wires 91 are woven into the textile body 9 in a first direction (D1) and a second direction (D2), resulting in increased manufacturing costs. Moreover, conductive paste may be applied to the conventional electrically conductive textiles to reduce overall resistance and increase resistance uniformity, resulting in increased manufacturing costs and inconvenience to the user.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an electrically conductive textile that can alleviate at least one of the aforementioned drawbacks associated with the prior art.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an electrically conductive textile includes an electrically conductive textile member and at least one electrically conductive element. The electrically conductive textile member includes a textile body and a plurality of electrically conductive wires that are woven into the textile body in a first direction and that are spaced apart from each other. The at least one electrically conductive element is attached onto the textile body in a second direction transverse to the first direction, and is electrically connected to the electrically conductive wires for adjusting a resistance value of the electrically conductive textile member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an example of a conventional electrically conductive textile;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of an electrically conductive textile according to the present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a modification of the first embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the disclosure is described in further detail with reference to the accompanying embodiments, it should be noted herein that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, a first embodiment of an electrically conductive textile according to the present disclosure includes an electrically conductive textile member 1 and an electrically conductive element 2. The electrically conductive textile member 1 includes a textile body 11 and a plurality of electrically conductive wires 12 that are woven into the textile body 11 in a first direction (L1) and that are spaced apart from each other in a second direction (L2) transverse to the first direction (L1). The electrically conductive element 2 is attached onto the textile body 11 in the second direction (L2), and electrically connected to the electrically conductive wires 12 for adjusting a resistance value of the electrically conductive textile member 1. The electrically conductive element 2 may be bent with the electrically conductive textile member 1. In certain embodiments, the textile body 11 may include a plurality of moisture-absorbing fibers (not shown) for absorbing and retaining moisture in the textile body 11, thereby reducing an overall resistance of the electrically conductive textile, and alleviating a stinging sensation felt by a user after long-term use.

The electrically conductive textile member 1 has a resistance value R1, the electrically conductive element 2 has a resistance value R2, and R1/R2 ranges from 1 to 10⁶. In the first embodiment, the resistance value R1 may range from 10 to 10⁵ ohms, and the resistance value R2 may range from 10⁻¹ to 10 ohms. Preferably, the resistance value R2 is smaller than the resistance value R1. The electrically conductive element 2 may be made of: metal, e.g., silver, structured silver, stainless steel, copper, nickel; metal oxide, e.g., indium tin oxide; or a non-metal material, e.g., carbon black, graphene, carbon nanotube, electrically conductive polymer. In certain embodiments, the electrically conductive element 2 may be in the form of a coating, a strip, or a film. Moreover, according to practical requirements, there may be more than one electrically conductive element 2.

In certain embodiments, the electrically conductive element 2 electrically connects the electrically conductive wires 12 in parallel, thereby reducing the overall resistance of the electrically conductive textile. As a result, the overall resistance of the electrically conductive textile can be controlled by adjusting the resistance value R2 of the electrically conductive element 2 without having to adjust the number of the electrically conductive wires 12.

Referring to FIG. 3, in certain embodiments, the textile body 11 of the electrically conductive textile member 1 maybe cross-shaped for being fittingly attached to the user's body and maintaining functions thereof when the user is in motion. It should be noted that the shape of the textile body 11 may be changed according to practical requirements.

A second embodiment of the electrically conductive textile according to this disclosure is similar to the first embodiment with the differences disclosed below.

In the second embodiment, R1/R2 ranges from 1 to 10⁹, the resistance value R1 may range from 10⁵ to 10¹¹ ohms, and the resistance value R2 may range from 10² to 10⁵ ohms.

In an experimental example, the electrically conductive textile member 1 has the resistance value R1 of 10⁸ ohms. After the electrically conductive element 2 is attached onto the electrically conductive textile member 1, the overall resistance of the electrically conductive textile can be lowered to 10⁶ ohms. Moreover, by controlling the overall resistance of the electrically conductive textile to be within a range from 10⁵ to 10¹¹ ohms, static charge build-up of the electrically conductive textile is less likely to occur.

In another experimental example, an ohmmeter is used to measure the resistance at various points of the electrically conductive textile member 1, before and after the electrically conductive element 2 is attached to the electrically conductive textile member 1. Before the electrically conductive element 2 is attached, the measured resistance values of the electrically conductive textile member 1 are 23.32, 232.56, and 430.54 ohms. After the electrically conductive element 2 is attached, the measured overall resistance values of the electrically conductive textile are 23.41, 16.92, 18.36, and 22.42 ohms. The results demonstrate that the electrically conductive element 2 provides superior resistance uniformity to the electrically conductive textile.

To sum up, the overall resistance of the electrically conductive textile can be controlled by adjusting the resistance value R2 of the electrically conductive element 2 without having to adjust the number of the electrically conductive wires 12 of the electrically conductive textile member 1. In this way, the resistance uniformity of the electrically conductive textile can be increased. In addition, the moisture-absorbing fibers may alleviate the stinging sensation felt by the user after long-term use of the electrically conductive textile.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments end variation but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrically conductive textile comprising: an electrically conductive textile member including a textile body and a plurality of electrically conductive wires that are woven into said textile body in a first direction and that are spaced apart from each other; and at least one electrically conductive element that is attached onto said textile body in a second direction transverse to the first direction, and that is electrically connected to said electrically conductive wires for adjusting a resistance value of said electrically conductive textile member.
 2. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electrically conductive textile member has a resistance value R1, said at least one electrically conductive element has a resistance value R2, and R1/R2 ranges from 1 to 10⁶. 3 . The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 2, wherein the resistance value R1 ranges from 10 to 10⁵ ohms, and the resistance value R2 ranges from 10⁻¹ to 10 ohms. 4 . The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electrically conductive textile member has a resistance value R1, said at least one electrically conductive element has a resistance value R2, and R1/R2 ranges from 1 to 10⁹.
 5. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 4, wherein the resistance value R1 ranges from 10⁵ to 10¹¹ ohms, and the resistance value R2 ranges from 10² to 10⁵ ohms.
 6. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one electrically conductive element electrically connects said electrically conductive wires in parallel. 7 . The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said textile body includes a plurality of moisture-absorbing fibers.
 8. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said textile body is cross-shaped.
 9. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one electrically conductive element is made of metal.
 10. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one electrically conductive element is made of a non-metal material.
 11. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one electrically conductive element is in the form of a coating.
 12. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one electrically conductive element is in the form of a strip.
 13. The electrically conductive textile as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one electrically conductive element is in the form of a film. 